Nilufer and Alpel's sailing adventures in the Eastern Caribbean. Stories of a lifestyle on a 38 ft Lagoon catamaran, covering from Portorico to Grenada, and from 2011 to date, with pictures.

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

TYRRELL BAY

We reached Carriacou in good time, despite the fog and the rain, which made the weather quite cooler. We had to wear our jackets which had been sitting in the closet for some time (Al's was a birthday present from Deniz, which was selected by their son, able seaman Mehmet, so very special; mine was a present from Al, also special).
We anchored in the bay, in close proximity to others all around. Then we spotted a 38 Lagoon with a Canadian flag (Me Gusta), that we had seen at St George's. After a while, I also saw the yacht that had played hide and seek with us, anchored a few boats back. It seemed that everybody was headed the same way. Tyrrell Bay is the point of entry/exit to Grenada, so first thing was to clear Customs and Immigration. As we were getting ready to leave for the office, a couple (Rick and Miriam of Me Gusta) in their dinghy approached and hailed us. Rick metioned having seen us in St George's, and we acknowledged, since we had admired their new boat (2010 model), which looks better in every way (please don't feel bad Ruyam II, we love you all the same).

Anyway, Rick started chatting with Al in a very friendly manner, and we invited them for a drink a little later, after we dealt with the business at hand. Miriam mentioned, that at the moment she was baking bread anyway, they would have more time later.

They did come around 4:00 pm, carrying their own drinks and a recipe for the bread. Apparently the trick of making bread on the boat was using the pressure cooker as an oven, by taking the sealer ring out. I use it for cooking, but never heard of baking bread in it, I'll try it one day.

We had a very nice visit, which got even better when the other Canadian couple, Celine and Claud joined us. Their boat is called Nanny-Farr (it sounds like my name, so I won't forget it). Rick told us the history of their friendship; their boats were tied side by side at one of the locks in the Canadian waterways near Montreal, Quebec; which was the starting point for both of their journeys south into the Caribbean, after they retired from work (but not from life). They did not exactly travel together, but met up in some places, during the last two years. We hope to see them again, since we are headed to the same place, although they are planning to sail further than Martinique eventually, as was their custom every year, possibly up to BVI and back. Rick's love of sailing occasionally drives Miriam up the wall apparently, when he refuses to turn the engines on, even with 2 knots of winds. Thankfully we do not have that problem, but we rely on the engines a little too much sometimes, nevertheless, I'm quite happy that we have power (wind or engine) at all times. However, when we first started sailing on our small Mystere hobby-cat about ten years ago, Al decided to be as stubborn one day, while we were trying to sail on the Ottawa river when the wind completely died down, and we started to get drifted towards Montreal with the steady current. I suggested using the paddles to get us back to our yacht club, but Al wanted to sail (!) When he saw that it was pointless, we grabbed one of the mooring balls of the club in our path, and Al jumped in the water to get to our power boat tied at the docks. However, a good samaritan passing by in a boat came to our rescue and towed us to the club instead. That day we learned not to ever sail down-stream from the club, and use paddles when necessary.